The Week in Chess

The 3rd game of the World Chess Championship match in London ended in a draw after 49 moves. Caruana had the white pieces against Carlsen and they repeated the Sicilian Rossolimo Variation from game 1. This time Caruana was forearmed and even though Carlsen was the first to produce a surprise with the rare 6.... Qc7 he was by his own admission only worse a few moves later. Most likely 10...Bg4 was the culprit.

"I miscalculated the position. I thought what I entered was very close to equalising. Then I realised I was clearly worse." - Carlsen.

Then again only a few moves after that Carlsen was again completely equal. 15.Rxa5 Qxa5 16.Bd2 might have led to much more pressure on the Queen side for white. Certainly after 18.Bc3 black was dead equal.

"When we reached the endgame, I thought I had equalised. .... I didn't really play for a win. ... It was only when I had forced his pawn on a black square and established it there, I thought I would be able to press him." Carlsen.

Then Carlsen played 37...fxe4 and all the tension went out of the game and it was quickly drawn. Caruana said he was relieved.

"I think Magnus could've tortured me a bit more." - Caruana [All press conference quotes via Tarjei J. Svensen on twitter]

Thus the game was drawn in 49 moves with both sides missing opportunities to make their opponent's life much more difficult. Not all that impressive from either player today.

Score Carlsen 1.5 - Caruana 1.5. Game 4 Tuesday 3pm GMT Carlsen white vs Caruana.